John Paff: Gloucester Prosecutor issues guidelines on public officials' e-mail usage-cnbnews.net
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
On September 13, 2011, Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean F. Dalton sent a memorandum to every municipality in the county "strongly urging" them to "adopt an e-mail policy" for local government officials "in order to uphold the high levels of transparency contemplated by the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA)."
The memorandum was issued in response to a February 19, 2011 complaint against the Borough of Pitman that Prosecutor Dalton received from the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project. The Project had complained that a majority of the Pitman Borough Council had "voted" via e-mail to pay a utility bill. Dalton found that "there is sufficient evidence to believe a violation of the OPMA took place" but felt that it was not "in the best interest of the public" for fines to be levied against the Pitman Council members who participated in the improper e-mail.
However, Dalton issues some guidelines, including not having an effective majority of a governing body included in a single e-mail and not conducting "rolling" e-mail communications (i.e. a series of e-mails on official business that eventually involve a majority of the body). Dalton's letter, memorandum and background material are on-line here:http://ogtf.lpcnj.org/2011256YF//EmailPitman2.pdf
This is the second instance this year where a county prosecutor has responded to the Open Government Advocacy Project's complaints regarding e-mail use by public officials. In an August 4, 2011 letter, Burlington County Prosecutor Robert D. Bernardi made findings similar to Dalton's regarding use of e-mail by Evesham Township Council members. That letter is on-line here:http://ogtf.lpcnj.org/2011216TS//b10804BurlcoProsEvesham.pdf
John Paff
New Jersey Libertarian Party's
Open Government Advocacy Project
